Untold Tampa Bay: Dunedin arcade Sim Center to hold a grand reopening
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Peter Repak's 737 airplane simulator. Photo: Courtesy of the Sim Center
Clad in a green flight jacket, Peter Repak leans over, his voice cutting through the roaring skies above I-75. In the cockpit of a Boeing 737 commercial airliner, he guides a 20-year-old pilot toward Miami.
- The young aviator's confidence grows with each passing minute, and a satisfied grin plays across the 54-year-old man's face. Repak smooths his white hair and eases back in his seat. "Now, it's all yours," he said. "Fly it."
What's happening: That flight took place inside Repak's homemade replica of the aircraft at his virtual reality arcade in Dunedin called Sim Center, where customers can also fly a fighter jet or drive a Formula One car.
Why it matters: The arcade's been around for more than a decade, but Repak said it's on the brink of extinction. Between the pandemic and hurricanes, the foot traffic Sim Center once drew — mostly from tourists — is all but gone.
- Sim Center is hosting its grand reopening on Thursday, and Repak is depending on a busy summer to keep his doors open.
What he's saying: Repak said he's tens of thousands of dollars in debt. He's begun likening himself to the biblical character Job — a man who watched virtually every aspect of his life wither away.
- "Most people think we went out of business," he told Axios. "Nobody even knows I'm here."
Flashback: He got evicted last November from the arcade's previous location in Clearwater after struggling to make his rent. Now, Sim Center is tucked away in a strip mall, half the size of its last site.
- It quietly reopened in January.
Between the lines: Repak has built his livelihood around a broken dream. He wanted to be a commercial airline pilot for most of his life. He still smiles when remembering his first flight at age six in Hungary.
- Ask him why, and he says, "It's the freedom of movement, of being able to go to a place where people speak Hungarian to a place where they speak German in two hours."
The idea behind Sim Center came to Repak when he realized he'd never become a commercial airline pilot — for which he blamed communist rule in Hungary and his limited English when he arrived in the U.S. at age 23.
- He began building the arcade's main attraction — a Boeing 737 simulator — in his living room four years after arriving in the U.S. It took him over 20 years to complete.
- "You have a kid like me who wants to be a pilot and you put them behind the controls, and you see that spark. There's nothing better than that." Repak said. "It's not about the money, I enjoy every second of this."
Editor's note: This story is part of our series, Untold Tampa Bay, which aims to give a glimpse into the lives of the people who make up our diverse community and whose stories often go unheard.